Gunner strategy
The Gunner is a specialist in using heavy weaponry, most notably his Minigun and Mortar Launcher. His ability to lay down massive amounts of fire and rain mortar shells from range can allow him to do a large amount of damage in a short amount of time. General Area Denial With both of his weapons boasting a naturally high rate of fire, high damage, and high capacity, the Gunner can help deny an area of the map to his enemies. The Gunner also has naturally high health, with only the Tank being able to surpass him without Armor Endorsements. Mobility While the Gunner's speed is decent for his size, spinning or firing his Minigun slows him to a crawl. Gaining a height advantage by using his jetpack can give him the element of surprise. The jetpack can also help the Gunner be more evasive when engaging an enemy. If attempting to fight an enemy at medium to long range, using the Mortar Launcher can help retain your speed. The jetpack can also be used as a last ditch effort to prevent a Ring Out, as well as lessening or preventing fall damage. Game Modes Blitz Crossfire Early Game The Gunner is good at early Bot pushing, being able to destroy Slims quickly, and take out Turrets with relative ease compared to other Pros. The jetpack also allows Gunners to ambush aggressive Supports that might try to put a Firebase in a forward position. With how devastating dual Miniguns can be, most Gunners try to get their passive skill upgraded to level 3 as soon as they can. Mid Game By this point, a Gunner should be able to control the flow of a bot lane by either assisting their team in pushing into the other team's base, or wiping out bots and pros that threaten to breach their own base. Skill upgrades will typically be dictated by the situation the Gunner is in. Deploy turns the Gunner into a human turret, and increases the accuracy and lethality of his weapons, at the expense of being in a fixed position and only being able to turn 180 degrees. Slam causes the Gunner to hit the ground and send out a damaging shockwave that slows Pros and stuns bots, and the possibility of ringing out enemy Pros. Grapple is primarily a self-defense skill for when an enemy Pro or Bot is nearby and the Gunner is still reloading. When dealing with Jackbot XLs, it is better to avoid its cannons with evasive action and hover over shockwaves it creates while shooting it with either of your weapons. At longer range, the Mortar Launcher is far more effective than the Minigun, but at medium to close range the Minigun's unrelenting rate of fire is better. It is entirely possible to earn a full Juice bar by shooting a Jackbot with the Minigun if you're on your own. This can allow a Gunner to make a counter attack after destroying a Jackbot. Attacking a Moneyball A Gunner with their passive skill upgraded can wreak havoc on enemy base turrets and bots with their Mortar Launcher. While working on the enemy defenses, be wary of enemy Snipers and Assassins that will try to take you out when you're focusing on a single target. Enemy Gunners and Tanks may also be able to take you down quickly if they manage to flank you. Supports and Assaults may try to plant their explosives on you, which will generally kill you instantly. At close range when damaging the Moneyball, a quick Slam can give you much needed breathing room if you get surrounded by freshly respawned enemies. If survival is a goal, unless you can find a quiet area with a friendly Support, Deploying is generally a bad idea since you'll become an easy target. If you only need to dish out as much damage to the moneyball as possible, Deploying will maximize your damage during your time at the Moneyball. During overtime, a juiced, deployed Gunner can knock off 25% of a Moneyball's health while juiced up. Defending a Moneyball If enemies are attacking your defenses from behind cover, shooting mortar rounds near them can cause the area damage to hit them. This can force them out of cover, or even kill them if they don't move out of the way. Slamming can get enemy pros away from you and your base, with the chance of ringing them out. A Slam will also stun any bots caught in the shockwave (except Jackbot XLs), which can give you and your team a few more seconds to destroy nearby bots that are threatening to take out the Moneyball shields. A fully upgraded Gunner Grapple can be a good way to get enemy pros and bots alike away in a hurry, though the Gunner's relatively slow speed makes this difficult if they aren't coming at you. The Gunner Deploy is good for defense as long as you have cover over you to prevent Supports from dropping an Airstrike on your head. You also want to minimize the ability for enemy Snipers to hit you. A level 3 Deploy does prevent headshots, but you still take a good amount of damage from Sniper Rifle shots. Weapons Minigun/Dual Minigun The Gunner's primary weapon, and for good reason. Its high damage at close range, high rate of fire, and high ammo capacity make it a devastating weapon to anything the Gunner sets his sights on. The level 3 passive skill turns the Minigun into a Dual Minigun, increasing its rate of fire and ammo capacity. Both forms of the Minigun however, suffer from relatively low accuracy beyond medium range, decreased damage beyond medium range, and a punishingly long reload time. The Minigun also starts off with a slow rate of fire until the barrel(s) get to their operating speed. This can be mitigated by holding down alternate fire to keep the barrel(s) spinning. Spinning and/or firing the Minigun also happens to slow the Gunner to a crawl, making him an easy target at long range for Snipers, and a relatively easy grapple for Assassins if they aren't detected. Accuracy Endorsements will tighten the spread of the Minigun, making it more effective at medium range, but it is still ineffective at long range since the damage decays greatly. Clip Size Endorsements help keep the Gunner shooting for extended periods of time, and Reload Speed Endorsements will help bring the long reload time down to a more manageable time. The Minigun is best at close to medium range where it can shred most enemy pros, and tears through lightly armored bots like Slims, Buzzers, Gremlins. It is also passable against more armored bots like Black Jacks, Bouncers, Scramblers, and Jackbot XLs. Mortar Launcher Lobbing mortar shells that arc over distance then explode is what the Mortar Launcher is all about. The explosions deal strong area damage and can allow a Gunner to engage enemy forces from behind cover without having to expose himself to direct attacks. Each upgrade to the Gunner's passive skill allows shells to split in mid-air (2 shells at level 2, 3 shells at level 3), covering a larger area and dealing more damage. Gunners must be careful when using mortars at close range, or they could damage themselves. The Gunner is able to Grapple with this weapon out using alternate fire, lessening but not eliminating their exposure at close range. The Mortar Launcher also has a relatively slow rate of fire, so without a Rate of Fire Endorsement, enemy turrets that are being repaired by Supports are unlikely to go down. Despite the drawbacks the Mortar Launcher has, it is still one of the best ways to take out enemy turrets at medium to long range, and can also do good damage to enemy bots and pros alike. The Gunner also keeps their normal movement speed when firing this weapon, making it somewhat safer to engage enemy Snipers that are trying to get a headshot on you. Skills Slam The Gunner's Slam skill has many uses, but they're all limited to short range. Upgrades to the skill increases the damage delt and range of the shockwave. When surrounded, it can be used to push enemy Pros away while dazing them, as well as damaging and stunning nearby Bots. Its also useful for getting enemy Assassins away from you in a pinch so you can mow them down with your Minigun. If being thrown by an enemy Pro, like an Assault with their Charge, using a Slam immediately will stop your momentum and cause you to land quickly, possibly saving you from being ringed out. Finally, it can also be used as a kind of personal Ejector, allowing you to ring out enemy pros if they're between you and a pit. Gunner Deploy Deploying allows a Gunner to become a human turret. A mechanism on the Gunner's back extends and plants the Gunner on the ground, stabilizing him and increasing his accuracy, but rendering him immobile and limits his turning to 180 degrees. Upgrades increase the Gunner's chances of getting Critical Shots, increases his resistance to damage, and a level 3 upgrade adds a face shield to prevent Snipers from getting headshots. This skill increases the gunners damage by such amounts that he can mow down most other enemy pros in his line of sight, even including other non-deployed gunners, and to some extent tanks. Gunner Grapple Allowing the Gunner to thrust his weapon into his target's midsection then hitting them on the head, this skill is primarily useful for defending yourself or your Moneyball when you are reloading and your Slam isn't ready. Upgrades to this skill increase the damage the grapple does, and a full upgrade will have the Gunner swing his weapon in a golf club fashion, sending his target flying. The level 3 upgrade can allow a Gunner to halt an enemy that is using Juice and send them away from you and whatever they were shooting. Using this skill as a Juice counter is very risky though, so an Armor endorsement may help you live long enough to get the grapple off. Endorsements : See Gunner Custom Classes for user-submitted Endorsement choices. Juice Juice turns all Pros into juggernauts, but the Gunner is arguably one of the most devastating Pros when Juiced. Any enemy Pros caught in Juiced Minigun fire go down extremely quickly if they don't run, and Juiced Mortar Launcher fire takes out most base turrets in a few shells. The vastly increased reload speed Pros earn when Juiced helps mitigate the long reload the Minigun has, but its still best to have it reloaded before using Juice. Because of the extreme threat a Juiced Gunner poses, you will become the target of any class that has the ability to throw enemies. If you can't shoot an enemy pro that is approaching you for a possible Grapple, be ready to use your Slam skill to get them away so you can keep using your Juice for a few more seconds. Category:Strategy